Awkward Encounters
by Polly Little
Summary: Alec Lightwood has somehow achieved a position teaching at the prestigious Alicante Institute. Will his attractive new colleague Magnus Bane make the responsibility easier, or will their shared office just become another source of stress?
1. Chapter 1

_Awkward Encounters_

Alec is not going to make this awkward. He's not. It had been the thing he'd worried most about upon getting a position teaching at his younger sister's very selective private school – which was saying something, because he'd worried a lot – and so he'd somehow managed to convince himself that making things awkward would cause his whole career to come crashing down like the teetering stack of boxes he was currently carrying down the hallway. He is completely aware of how illogical he's being, but anxiety is creative like that and now he's stuck with it.

So he can't make things awkward, and he can't stop Izzy in the corridor to talk, and he certainly can't phone Izzy up in the middle of her lunch break to ask how to get to his new office, even if this school is designed more like a labyrinth than it has any right to be. Anyway, he's a grown man; he should be years past any _first day of school _nerves.

He's still lost though.

The frustrating part is that he had actually planned for this very situation. He'd printed a map of the school off the day before, and had Izzy walk him through the route from his two classrooms and the staff carpark, but between a morning spent redecorating and reorganising and the bizarre administrative decision to put a history classroom in the languages block, he has no idea where he might find a "year leader" office, and to make matters worse, his arms are full of boxes – brand new textbooks from the school, and all the bits and pieces he hadn't found a place for in a classroom so was planning on putting in his new office; if he ever found it, that was.

He decides to swallow his pride, and asks the next passing student for directions. Although the sunlit corridor he's walking down seems deserted, as soon as he makes the decision he spots another adult walking in the opposite direction; almost as if by magic.

"Hey!" He jogs a little to catch up with them, and realises too late that his teetering stack of boxes have become a tottering stack, are veering dangerously close to becoming a wobbling stack, and he can already see their final transformation into a cascade of humiliation onto the floor.

He fumbles for them, and somehow manages to grab a couple. With lightning fast reflexes, a pair of hands shoot out and save the rest.

"Careful there," the other man muses, his voice warm and rich. "Those look heavy."

"They're not really. There's just a lot of them," Alec replies, and he's suddenly aware of just how close they're standing, so intimately close that he can see a previously invisible eyelash on the other man's cheek. He has a mystifying urge to brush it off.

He gets a hum in response, and then somehow the two work out how to put the boxes down without spilling them.

"Thanks," Alec says, and wonders why he feels so breathless; the boxes hadn't been _that _heavy.

"Don't mention it. Magnus Bane," and a hand is presented to be shaken. "I teach chemistry, by which I mean I have the thankless task of preventing teenagers from setting themselves, me, and/or my classroom on fire."

"Alec Lightwood. I'm starting today." He grins, glad to have made if not a friend, then at least a friendly acquaintance on staff.

Magnus grins back, and bends to help him pick up the boxes. "Oh? What subject sends you on this epic quest through the hallways?"

"History, although I'm actually looking for the Year Nine Leader office?" He hopes his exhausted confusion isn't too visible, but this school has defeated him and he's willing to throw himself at the mercy of anyone who knows their way around.

Magnus laughs. "You'll be sharing with me; I take the Year Tens. I _had_ wondered who Helen's replacement would be."

Its no exaggeration to say that Alec wilts in relief. "Would you – if it's not too much trouble, of course –"

"Show you to our office?" Magnus smiles. "It would be my pleasure."

Alec is embarrassed to discover that his – _their _– office is directly opposite one of his classrooms. Its small, triangular and rather cramped, just about fitting a pair of desks and four chairs, but the three walls are painted a soothing shade of dove grey, and the room itself is bright and airy thanks to the large picture window directly opposite the doorway. Magnus has clearly done his best to make the place as homely as possible, too, from the glittering golden shawl draped over one of the desks, to the interestingly shaped bottle of foil wrapped toffees on top of a rickety bookcase in the corner, to the star-shaped card holder filled with thank you notes and postcards hanging pride of place on the wall.

It all adds up to quite a distinctive personality, that Alec is looking forward to getting to know, except for one, incongruous thing. Although Alec would have expected something more loose and drapey from the rest of the room, the curtains are plain white cotton decorated with a pattern of cartoon bees in sunglasses. Magnus catches him looking and shrugs.

"Helen brought those in," he says. "Apparently they were too scientifically inaccurate for their original owner."

Alec nods in acknowledgement and sets his boxes down next to the unoccupied desk. It looks lonely in its emptiness, but he hadn't really brought much for himself, especially in comparison to Magnus' much cosier half for the room.

He locates the box labeled _personal _and rummages through it. He pulls out a tape dispenser, a framed photo of himself with his siblings, and a plain black pencil case he grabbed from the bargain bin at the supermarket. Then, slightly more self-consciously, he carefully fishes out a plastic action figure Max had rushed down from his room and insisted was the perfect way to decorate his new office. He'd received a whole lecture about "character parallels" and "consistent narrative", but the main thing Alec remembers is his little brother's earnest face entreating him to "find his own Naruto", whatever that meant.

He catches Magnus staring at the figure's scowl and dramatic hair and shrugs. "That's Sasuke. My little brother said he was "capable of carrying the weight of my sins"."

They both look at the action figure in bemused silence. Silently, out of pure scientific curiosity, Alec grabs a textbook from one of the boxes, and balances it on top of the figure's upraised hands.

It doesn't fall. Magnus looks questioningly at Alec, and then places one of his own textbook on top.

Again, the book might as well have been a feather for all the reaction it earns. Alec knows where he's keeping his marking this year.

He's soon to learn that he's being far too optimistic – not even the last of the Uchicha can hold back the tide of assignments he's doomed to be buried in – but for now, he's safe in a happier time of stacking textbooks and interrogating Magnus on all the finer details of the school.

To the public, of course, _Alicante Institute _has an immaculate reputation of being one of the top schools in the region, _"encouraging resilience in every way" _as their motto claims. However, with the wisdom of experience Magnus tells him that the school is actually remarkably similar to a cornfield – all very well to look at, but attempts to enter it will be met with a farmer waving a shotgun, or else with a multitude of spiders.

Fortunately, Alec's never been arachnophobic.

_The Institute_ isn't precisely a bad school, it's just rather more… chaotic than Alec had expected. Normally, he would assume Magnus was exaggerating, but one particular story he distinctly remembers Izzy telling him over the breakfast table. He asks anyway, just to be certain.

"Oh, Alexander," Magnus says with a devilish smile. "I never exaggerate."

Alec can feel the colour rising in his cheeks, and is grateful for the excuse of a meeting with the head that lets him escape.

**A/n: hopefully the first chapter of many, please let me know what you think!**

_**Written for TGTTLL; I hope we don't get lost too often this year. **_


	2. Chapter 2

Although Alec has met her before, Miss Reine is just as terrifying as when she interviewed him for the position. Red curls swept up into a braid crown, sharp brown eyes and a habit of cutting straight to the heart of the matter, Alec feels as if she can see into his very soul. Its impossible to tell how old she is - anywhere between thirty and fifty - but the improvement in both grades and funding since she gained the position suggest valuable experience.

Alec comes out of the meeting with his coursework plans approved, and feeling very much both informed and interrogated. He then returns to his office to collect his car keys and various other things he can't return home without, planning on leaving, only to be met by a disheveled looking Magnus at their door.

"Are you okay?" He can't help but ask, because Magnus really isn't looking his best. He might have only known him for a few hours, but Alec is certain that no one would look that singed deliberately.

"There was an incident with some potassium," he waves a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

Alec nods, wondering just how common this sort of _incident _is for the other man.

"So!" Magnus continues brightly. "It's a Thursday. And that means the science department are going for coffee."

Alec nods again. "I hope you enjoy it?" Frustratingly, it comes out as more of a question than a statement, and Alec wonders how he ever survived to adulthood.

"Of course I will! You're coming with me," Magnus says, and then looks a little unsure. "That is, if you'd like to."

"I'd love to," Alec says, and with that, they're on their way.

The coffee shop favoured by the science department is apparently within five minutes walking distance, so Alec follows Magnus around the corner and, surprisingly, away from the high street. However, it isn't situated too far from the main road into town, and according to Magnus, their "Gingernut choc chip lattes are worth three eighths of a murder", so the shop is presumably in no danger of going out of business.

"Let me pay for yours," Magnus says as they join the short queue before the counter, eyes already scanning the blackboard listing the day's specials. "Trust me, it's the least I could do after making you deal with Ragnor."

"Oh, uh, okay." Normally, of course, Alec would argue, but Magnus is a little intimidating in his generosity. "Do you not get on with Ragnor, then?"

"Of course I don't; he's my best friend," Magnus says absently, and then, with a wriggle of his fingers, "I think I'll have the _Banana Blast Mocchachino_, and you?"

"Uh, a black coffee please," he says, and Magnus actually looks a little disturbed.

"Really? You can have something else if you want."

Alec has to laugh at the look on the obvious sugar-addict's face. "No, it tastes better that way."

_"Tastes better –" _Magnus shakes his head, and takes his place at the front of the queue. "A black coffee, please, and a Banana Blast Mocchachino."

The barista confirms the order, Magnus pays, and the pair go over to stand next to a fish tank in the centre of the room, waiting for the coffee to be finished. It's nice. Peaceful. Alec is engrossed in watching a pair of neon tetras race each other through the rocks, darting and diving, daring each other to go faster, when a deliberate cough interrupts the warm quiet.

He turns around to see another man of about his own height and build (abnormally tall by most people's standards), although a little slimmer across the shoulders, with a majestic pair of muttonchops. The most striking thing about him, however, is his forest green velvet suit with ornate silver buttons. His shirt is a slate grey satin, and his shoes perfectly shined. In short, he's dressed a tad more elaborately than Alec had expected from a high school chemistry teacher. Later, Ragnor will claim that this is because he's a high school physics teacher, and therefore held to a higher standard.

"Bane," Ragnor says coldly, with a glare that could topple governments and level cities.

"Fell," Magnus returns in kind. Alec feels like he's watching the dramatic showdown stereotypical to an old western.

"I can't believe you put me in the _shed," _Ragnor complains, and the stony atmosphere returns to normal. "It's awful, Magnus, the heating stopped working at lunchtime and I had to finish setting up in my coat."

Magnus snickers. "But you know how I love to torture you, Ragnor," he teases. "Department head has its privileges."

Ragnor groans again, a man close to giving up. Even his mutton chops are drooping. "I can't believe I'm friends with you."

"Its not that bad," Magnus says cheerfully.

"Not that bad? Magnus, _the projector is duct taped to the ceiling."_

Magnus winces, but carries on just as cheerfully. "And that's appalling! But still, it's not that bad because while the time table claims you're in the shed for everything, the time table is made of lies and tree pulp."

Hope dawns in Ragnor's eyes, and Magnus's own eyes take on a slightly maniacal gleam as he begins to get carried away. "The timetable is unaware of the mutable nature of reality, and thereby holds you to a promise, a false promise, of accepting your miserable fate in the shed of despair. But I say no more! I say," and here he pauses dramatically, clearly taking it far too seriously, "I say that for half of each year thou shalt remain in exile, in the cold and dank, but in the other half thou canst abide in a realm hitherto dear unto my own heart."

Ragnor gasps, clearly just as melodramatic. "You don't mean…"

"Yes!" Magnus cries soulfully, one hand clasped to his breastbone. "C3!"

"You have no idea how much that means to me," Ragnor sighs, equally soulfully, and pretends to wipe a tear from his eye.

There's a smattering of applause from a pair of elderly ladies eating chocolate cake in the corner, and Magnus bows, grinning. Alec has to laugh.

"An excellent performance, as ever," the barista calls out. "But I've got your coffee now, Magnus."

Magnus rushes over to get it, and Alec is left with Ragnor.

"So," he begins, in an attempt to break the silence. "Should we go find a table?"

"Might as well," is Ragnor's reply, and then the silence continues from a table in the corner, he and Alec having taken the two chairs against the wall. Fortunately, it's not long before Magnus returns with the coffees.

"One mint tea," he says, and places it in front of Ragnor with a flourish. "One Banana Blast Mochachino," and there's another flourish as he places his own drink in front of the empty seat opposite Alec. "And one black coffee."

"Thanks," says Alec, and takes a grateful sip of his coffee. The mug is navy blue china, and contains enough coffee to flood a small country. It's good coffee. Alec is pleased.

"Yes, thanks," Ragnor says. His mug is the same forest green as his suit, and he looks at it as if confused by its existence. "I have to ask, though. How _did _you get my tea?"

Magnus shrugs. "Edmund knows we sit together. He also congratulates you on your most recent acquisition."

"One of these days, you're going to poison me and it'll be his responsibility," Ragnor mutters, but he drinks the coffee anyway. "Who's this?"

"_This," _says Magnus ceremoniously, "is Alec Lightwood. He teaches history," he adds, and then does jazz hands.

"A pleasure." They shake hands, and Alec is surprised by how cold the other man is. "Whatever he's told you about me, it's a lie."

Alec laughs. "Actually, he said you were his best friend."

Its amusing how flustered Ragnor gets at that, his earlier grace completely forgotten. "He did? Oh. That's – _well."_

"Well yourself," Magnus mutters, blushing a little. "Anyway, _Alec Lightwood, _now that you've spilt my deepest darkest secret, why don't you tell us one of yours?"

Alec feels like a deer in the headlights. He can't think of a single thing that would interest the other men, and Magnus is looking at him as if he expects a second Magna Carta.

Ragnor nudges him. "He's dramatising again."

"Yeah, I got that," he says, stalling for time. "I'm just… not that interesting?'

Magnus scoffs, but his gaze is no longer quite so intense. "You seem plenty interesting to me."

"Thanks." There's a moment's silence while he frantically racks his brain, and then Alec blurts out, "I like cats!"

He continues, at a little more of a normal speed and volume, "I was considering adopting one, but decided to wait until I was settled in at the Institute so he felt stable."

"Very responsible," Magnus says, leaning his head on one hand and his arm on the table. "Tell me more."

"Well, his name is Church, and he's a Persian Longhair," Alec says with a fond smile. "They're fairly certain he's only a couple of years old, but he's already the feline embodiment of the word disgruntled."

The other two seem to think he's exaggerating, so Alec fishes in his pocket for his phone and quickly finds a photograph to show them. "I mean… look."

He hands his phone to Magnus, who laughs delightedly and passes it on to Ragnor, who snickers behind his steaming mug.

"He does," Ragnor says. "That's the exact face Valentine pulled when Miss Reine demanded he begin a drama club for the year sevens; I'd never seen a man so affronted."

"Who's Valentine?" Alec asks.

"The drama teacher," Magnus says with a faintly disgusted look, and Alec wonders how someone could possibly be more dramatic than Magnus.

"He's evil," Ragnor spits, and Alec's mental image changes from a Magnus in a gold lamé top hat and tails to a Magnus dressed as the Phantom of the Opera.

"Who's evil?" a new voice asks, and a short black lady with white braids twisted into a ponytail takes the last seat free and shunts her brief case under the table. She has a friendly smile and a blue wool dress, and a pair of safety glasses hanging from her collar that she appears not to be aware of.

"Your fiance?" Magnus says from the seat next to her in an expectant sort of voice. Ragnor doesn't say anything, but he seems just as eager for a response, judging by the way he leans in.

The woman rolls her eyes. "No, he isn't, and this is exactly why you have no idea who he is."

"But we don't know anything about him," Magnus complains.

"I know."

"Catarina, we're supposed to be your _friends_," Ragnor wheedles. "Surely you can trust us with the identity of your fiance."

She shakes her head. "I'm not introducing you two until half term, like we planned. September's chaotic enough as it is."

They both sigh dramatically, but the point is dropped.

Catarina turns to Alec and smiles. "I'm Dr Catarina Loss. It's lovely to meet you."

"Alec Lightwood," says Alec (Lightwood). "I, uh, teach history."

She looks interested, but before she can respond there's a call from the barista. "Hot chocolate for Catarina?"

"I can't believe you two – coming to a coffee shop and not even ordering a coffee?" Magnus punctuates his statement with noisy slurps from his Banana Blast Mocchachino and a faux disappointed shake of his head while Catarina rolls her eyes and goes to collect her hot chocolate.

"That's not a coffee, that's a fruit salad," Ragnor mutters, and Alec snorts. He joins in the resulting debate with relative ease, and thinks that maybe things are going to go well this year if he's getting on so well with his coworkers.

Catching Magnus's eyes across the table, warm and brown and scrunched up with laughter, he wonders if maybe there's a chance that they'll get on even better. He takes a sip of his coffee to drown the thoughts, but he can't help but be a little too eager to accept Magnus's number while walking back to the school carpark.

The street is overcast and empty, and Magnus's brown skin glows warm under the streetlights. The wind is pulling at Alec's coat, and he pulls it tighter around himself.

"I had a really great time tonight. Thanks for inviting me out," he says, then worries he's made it too much like a date.

"Thanks for coming," Magnus says with a small smile. "I'll see you on Monday, Alexander."

"Yeah," he says, and swallows. "See you."

Of course, it's not just Magnus and the other teachers he'll have to deal with on Monday. On Monday, he'll have to meet the students.

**A/n: this should have been posted weeks ago, but I kept getting distracted and adding more instead of editing. Whoops! I was glad to see a positive response to the last chapter, and I hope this one didn't disappoint!**


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